Ninetails and Himiko
by pieceofstone
Summary: A "What if?..." event between two characters, taking place in Empress Himiko's inner chamber.


The chamber's lofty ceiling was supported by red pillars along the periphery of the room and the dark walls were decorated with a curving motif repeated along the edges of the rug, itself spanning the length of the room from its only entrance to the opposite side, where a red mantle supported a shimmering disc. Light was provided by constantly burning flames -- here they appeared bravely wavering above tiered rows of white candles at the sides of the room; there they appeared above further candles dripping hot wax onto their metal holders. The brightest light came from a burning circle upon the wooden crown, or kanmuri, of a figure seated before the larger shining disc. Drawn about her were the folds of a ritual gown. Her right hand held a wand of dark green leaves from a sakaki tree.

Into this room came the figure of a Buddhist priestess. Her blue robe was drawn tight about her with a broad yellow ribbon. A headdress flowing over her shoulders hid most of her black hair, but a shock of it seemed to perpetually hang over one of her eyes. A mala of wooden beads lay securely about her neck. Fluidly and in perfect silence she began to make her way toward the other figure, the multitude of candles casting faint, confused shadows about her. She had walked halfway across the room when the other woman in the room spoke and broke the quiet.

"The moment of your arrival is auspicious, Sister Rao, as I have just awakened from such a dream as I have never had before. My mind is baffled, but I hope you might hear it and tell me its meaning."

The one addressed as Sister Rao had an air of restrained eagerness, but she paused now and her small, full lips smiled. This was not a kindly smile, but one borne of toying with the target of her assassination before she gave her identity away. Very well, she might play this game a moment longer. "I am not used to dream divination, your highness, but I shall tell you my thoughts regarding your recollection. Please proceed."

The room's original occupant, still holding the leaves of her wand to cover the lower part of her face,regarded the other. Their eyes met as the standing figure continued to close the distance between them with silent footfalls, now walking leisurely toward her, Empress Himiko.

Himiko had perceived that Amaterasu had failed; why else was Ninetails able to join her in this inner-sanctum? Himiko's duty was to her people's well-being, but now she would be slain, unless she could change this evil creature's mind without knowing she was suggesting it, and so she said, gazing levelly at he one who intended to take her life: "I dreamt of a fox who had more wisdom to rule than the wisest empress, and I dreamt I wanted to give this fox my throne, if she would take it. A far-off island called to this fox, but I knew that under her guidance, this city would flourish more than it had ever before. In this fox I saw great beauty surpassing the ability of the finest poets to describe, and I longed to give to her my throne and let her rule in my stead." Himiko lowered her wand of leaves away from face and regarded the standing woman. "What do you suppose this means?"

Ninetails had listened to all this with little surprise. Mistress of trickery, she well knew Himiko's dream was a complete fabrication. Was the Empress now doing anything in her power to stay her hand?

The polite neutral expression Ninetails bore in her disguise as Buddhist priestess Rao changed into a contemptuous smirk, and her eyes gleamed red. She knew, too, that Himiko could not possibly believe she might be fooled. "Don't be coy about your knowledge, wretch." She closed the remaining distance and a barely visible barrier of light shattered around the still-seated Himiko. Ninetails readied a blow to send Himiko to the underworld and paused to play this cruelly out. "Why would I possibly want to reside in this hovel and claim your miserable title when I shall sweep the entire coast under my rule? Don't think to lie and pretend your people would accept me in your stead."

While Ninetails spoke, an opaque haze had been forming over her visage and it had solidified now into a white fox mask. Himiko knew her assailant was about to kill her. "Our people would not accept you, that is true, but they need not know you were exerting your influence over them. And rather than going to war, you would be tricking all of our subjects, for-ever. Is this not desirable?"

Himiko, formerly drawn to the ornate mask, saw now that Ninetail's attire had been exchanged for gaudy clothing, almost a caricature of the more simple robes seen earlier. Ninetails paused. What were the extents Himiko would go to be spared, and how much shame might she be induced to bear? Ninetails impulsively reached down to pluck the crown from Himiko's head and put it upon her own. The burning orb upon the kanmuri smoldered and went out, but in its stead erupted kitsune-bi in an eerie luminescence at odds with every other source of light in the chamber. "That can be changed," Ninetails thought, and her mask's black mouth formed a grin at how Himiko's appearance and her own could be changed as well.

Later that day, one hundred eight palace subjects were invited to an audience with their Empress. Of the very few who had ever seen Himiko before, she seemed to them now oddly full of merriment and occasionally even jested to her newly appointed counselor, Rao, who, as far as anyone recollected, was now much more poised and quiet.


End file.
